As July slips by under the baking summer sun, air conditioning gets our vote for Legacy Technology of the Month. As for new technology, these computers are pretty cool.
New Precisions, New Memory
Earlier this month, Dell released its two most powerful mobile workstations to date: the Precision 7670 and 7770. Both laptops feature the highly anticipated HX-series of 55W mobile processors from Intel, and both can be configured with NVIDIA graphics cards all the way up to the top-of-the-line RTX A5500.
These new mobile workstations mark a couple interesting firsts. For one, the Precision 7670 is the first 16-inch mobile workstation in the Precision lineup. It has a 16:10 aspect ratio and is configurable with up to a 4K OLED touch display. The 17.3-inch Precision 7770 also offers up to 4K resolution, but with a 16:9 aspect ratio and no touch or OLED option.
The Precision 7670 and 7770 are also the first laptops to include Dell’s new patented memory form factor, Compression Attached Memory Module (CAMM). CAMM is an alternative to the common SODIMM form factor for DDR5 memory, which Dell says allows for easier field repairs and thinner chassis designs. While the 7670 and 7770 initially launched with CAMM, the mobile workstations will soon be available with SODIMM.
Prices of the Precision 7670 and 7770 start at $2,399 and $2,489 respectively.
Out of this World
Computer-maker Alienware gives new meaning to “high refresh rate display” with its m17 R5 gaming laptop. The m17 R5 now offers a blazing 480Hz display panel, which Alienware calls a “standard-defying” industry first. That’s at least quadruple the refresh rate you’ll find in any engineering-ready mobile workstation, where even 120Hz is a rare luxury.
Though engineers aren’t the target market for this new laptop, it might serve them well—gaming laptops can offer respectable specs at lower prices than their pro-oriented alternatives. Indeed, the Alienware m17 R5 is equipped with AMD Ryzen 6000 series processors, and its graphics options include both AMD Radeon RX 6000 and NVIDIA RTX GeForce graphics. The m17 R5 can be configured with up to 64GB of DDR5-4800MHz memory and 4TB of SSD storage.
The Alienware m17 R5 is currently available for a starting price of $1,600. With an upgrade to the 480Hz display, the price jumps to $2,300.
When I’m 64 (Cores)
CAD workstation manufacturer @Xi Computer has added new AMD-powered desktop workstations to its MTower lineup. They’re powered by AMD’s latest Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5000 series of processors, up to the 64-core 5995WX featured in the Xi MTower 64TR.
The Xi MTower 64TR can be customized at nearly every level from the motherboard on up. The workstation supports dozens of graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, maxing out with multiple NVIDIA RTX A6000 cards. It can be configured with up to 2TB of DDR4-3200MHz memory.
U.S.-based @Xi (the X stands for “Xcellence,” the I stands for “Intel,” and the @ is a mystery) has been in the business of CAD workstations for 35 years, and claims to give CAD users the best price-to-performance ratio. “This new 5000 Series of Threadripper processors allows our MTower workstations to deliver the absolute highest computational performance at an extremely aggressive price point,” said Robert Bragaglia, marketing director at @Xi Computer, in a news release.
The Xi MTower 64TR starts at $3,849 but climbs to $10,548 with an upgrade to the 64-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5995WX. It can multiply many times from there depending on just how crazy you want to get with your customized specs.